They live in a two-bed housing association home in Amesbury, Wilts, for £390 per month rent, with their girls Ruby, 11, and Zara, eight.

She says: "Our house is cramped. We started looking to buy a decade ago and we nearly got a three-bed for £53,000 but because Luke had lived in Australia there was a problem getting a mortgage.

"A month ago we tried to buy a three-bed shared-ownership house at £200,000 through a scheme. We'd only gone for a 40 per cent share of the mortgage but it fell through again because we were overstretching ourselves.

"Now we've started to see houses that have been on the market for a long time dipping in price and it's given us hope. We've saved up a £15,000 deposit and we're hoping this could be the time it comes of for us!"